Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Anthony Williams

Spring

2023 · Blue Note BST 84216 (also printed as 5523656 / 00602455236562) · Stereo · Germany (back cover states "Made in Germany"; pressed in the EU) · LP, 180 gram, reissue · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BST 84216 (also printed as 5523656 / 00602455236562)
Year	2023
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	Germany (back cover states "Made in Germany"; pressed in the EU)
Format	LP, 180 gram, reissue
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Post-Bop / Avant-Garde
Producer	Alfred Lion (original 1965 production; not separately credited on this reissue's jacket)
Composer	Anthony Williams
Musicians	Anthony Williams (drums), Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Sam Rivers (tenor sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Gary Peacock (bass)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  00602455236562-A KPG@CA BN92093-01 A1 5523656
Side B:  00602455236562-B KPG@CA BN92093-01 B1 5523656

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1966 - US mono first pressing, deep-groove NY label, Van Gelder stamp and ear (BLP 4216)
1966 - US stereo first pressing, NY label, Van Gelder stamp and ear (BST 84216)
1970s - US Liberty/United Artists-era reissue, later West 63rd/UA-era label (BST 84216)
1977 - Japan pressing with obi (GXK-8007 / BST 84216)
1985 - US/France/Japan audiophile-era reissue (BNJ 71075 / BST 84216)
2023 - Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series 180g reissue, Kevin Gray cut, Optimal pressing, barcode label (BST 84216 / 5523656)  <- this copy

This Pressing

2023 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series reissue - barcode-era pressing (not before 1980), Kevin Gray cut at Cohearent Audio, pressed in Germany; ranks below every original-era and vintage reissue pressing of this title.

The Album

Recorded in August 1965 when its leader was barely twenty, Spring is the second of drummer Anthony (Tony) Williams's two mid-1960s leader dates for the label, following Life Time, and stands as a remarkable early statement from a musician already reshaping the rhythmic language of jazz as a member of Miles Davis's quintet. All five compositions are Williams's own, pairing a front line of two tenor saxophones - the harmonically outward Sam Rivers alongside the more lyrical Wayne Shorter - with Herbie Hancock's piano and Gary Peacock's bass, an unusual instrumentation that lets Williams explore dense, freely pulsed group interplay rather than conventional theme-and-solos form. The record sits at the meeting point of hard bop's vocabulary and the loosening structures of the mid-1960s avant-garde, reflecting the same restless, advanced sensibility Williams brought to Davis's second great quintet during the same period. Though it was a commercial footnote on release, Spring has since been recognized by critics and musicians as a striking example of a teenage genius already composing and directing a band with the authority of a veteran, and it remains a touchstone for the Blue Note label's mid-sixties excursions into freer, more exploratory postbop.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Extras
2. Echo
3. From Before

Side 2

1. Love Song
2. Tee

The Label

The label on this copy is the modern cream-and-blue Blue Note design with "BLUE NOTE" lettering at left and bottom, a "33 1/3 STEREO LONG PLAYING" arc at top and "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC. - NEW YORK USA" beneath it, printed with a BIEM/SDRM credit line, a Label Code (LC00133) and a barcode-derived etched runout - none of which appear on any Blue Note pressing before 1980. This is the label used on Blue Note's current UMe-era Classic Vinyl Series reissues, a design introduced long after the original 1960s New York and later Liberty/United Artists labels that preceded it. Its presence, together with the barcode, places this copy at the foot of the pressing chronology, well after the 1966 original and the 1970s-80s reissues that carry the earlier label designs.

Fidelity

This pressing was cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog master tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl by Optimal Media in Germany, part of Blue Note's current Classic Vinyl Series reissue line. Collectors generally rate Gray's Cohearent cuts and Optimal's European pressing quality highly among the label's recent reissue runs, offering clean, dynamic sound at a modest price. It ranks below the original 1966 Rudy Van Gelder-cut New York stereo and mono pressings, which remain the benchmark for this title, and sits among the better-regarded of the post-1970 reissues rather than at the top of the title's overall fidelity hierarchy.

Notes

This copy is the current Blue Note/UMe Classic Vinyl Series reissue of Spring, not an original or vintage pressing. The UPC barcode on the jacket and the corresponding etched code in the runout are marks that did not exist before 1980, placing manufacture decades after the 1966 original. The label design, catalogue formatting (BST 84216 on label vs. 84216 STEREO on the sleeve) and the 180-gram weight and mastering credit on the hype sticker further identify it as the 2023 reissue mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed by Optimal Media in Germany.

Documenting collections

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This record’s page: https://vinylcurator.net/albums/anthony-williams-spring/